I’m writing this at 37,500 feet somewhere over the Mediterranean, en route home after a three day school prospectus shoot in Doha for the International School of London. Flying out on a Sunday afternoon, I always knew this was a job where I would need to hit the ground running. No room to mess up. Everything right first time. Having never worked in the Middle East before also meant coping with a completely different culture.  The muezzin’s calls to Adhan echoing from a mosque 50 metres from my hotel window at 4.30am did little to soften the blow of starting shooting at 7am each morning after a 45 minute cab journey !

The school has over 600 pupils and it took most of the first day to find my way around, but once I had it mapped out the shoot itself went very smoothly, helped in no small way by the multi-national faculty who went out of their way to accommodate any requests I had. At the end of each day I returned to my hotel and downloaded all my files to the laptop, before burning backup DVD’s and uploading everything to Drop Box, which Karen then downloaded back at the office the following morning. This workflow guaranteed all my images were safely offline back in the UK before I left.

The richest country in the world, Qatar depends almost entirely upon an expatriate workforce. The majority of Qatari’s do not work. Everything that keeps the country running is dependent upon foreign labour, much of it from sub-Saharan Africa. I got an extraordinary insight into this underclass on my last day, when I travelled with the CAS students who, once a week, as part of their IB programme, take lunch bags donated by families at the school and distribute them to local construction and road workers. Many of these men survive on virtual starvation rations, with often as little as an onion and a few litres of water a day, and the appearance of the school minibus is greeted like a UN convoy in a refugee camp.

For the most part though, an assignment of this nature is a privilege to shoot. Unrestricted access to classes and the freedom to move around the school unhindered has allowed me to capture not just it’s campus and educational facilities, but it’s deeper heart. To work (albeit briefly) amongst a truly international community of young people and educators is an exciting and stimulating experience and I know that when the final prospectus is produced my images will help project that message to prospective parents.

I’ll leave the final words to my client…   ”Chris – I’ve had a chance to look at the ISL Qatar photos and, once again, superb.  Thank you”

 

 

Retouching – how we moved a Sandcat tactical patrol vehicle from a client’s car park to the battlefield for a print advertisement, changing a few things along the way. The vehicle couldn’t leave the client’s premises so we started there.

 

Here’s how we did it…

 

Someone pointed out to me recently that my last blog post was in January. That’s 27 weeks – inexcusable in blog-land as we’re all supposed to update as regularly as possible. But on this occasion I make no apologies for the simple reason that we have just had far too much work (if that’s possible !)  So, rather than anything specific, I’m going just going to showcase a selection of the varied work that we’ve shot since the last post.

 

 

No Added Sugar

We’ve spent an enormous amount of time in the studio over the past four months shooting garments for luxury children’s clothing brand No Added Sugar – and Karen has patiently steamed, pressed and styled a seemingly endless stream of dresses, trousers, playsuits, tops and jackets.  Unfortunately we can’t publish any images as the fashion industry works 12 months ahead and we operate a strict non-disclosure policy to protect our clients. All I can say is watch out for their Spring/Summer 2013 Collection because it’s absolutely gorgeous.  http://www.noaddedsugar.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portsmouth Port “Stay Connected” cover shoot

Cover shoot for Portsmouth International Port’s new magazine “Stay Connected”. The original brief was to try and encompass Portsmouth “old and new” and to that end I suggested a shot from the historic HMS Warrior, taking in the Spinnaker Tower and some of the City itself.

The agency went through several variations on the theme, all of which were approved in turn then subsequently rejected. This is quite normal during the design process but  their final choice was the option featuring my shot of “Hebridean Princess” arriving at 0700 in Portsmouth a month earlier.

Something of a surprise  but the client was delighted – and that’s all that matters !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minerva gets a re-fit

In the latter part of 2011 Swan Hellenic’s “Minerva” underwent an extensive refit and shooting her alongside in March also gave me the opportunity to go on board and shoot some areas of the newly refurbished interior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One for the ladies….

Rupert Penry-Jones opened the Petersfield Shakespeare Festival at Bedales in May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACS International Schools – New prospectus shoots

Several days spent at all three ACS campus sites capturing the spirit of the schools for a brand new brochure design. Still only in proof stage but already looking good…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BSRIA –  Building Standards for a safer built environment

Commissioned by the The Building Services Research and Information Association, we spent two days on site at their Bracknell facility helping build the foundation of a new image library.

Working with a blank canvas of (mostly) white-walled modular test rooms, we created a series of striking images to update their website and bring new life to their promotional literature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Good Grief” – Penelope Keith for The Theatre Royal Bath

 

“Definitely not Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton” was the brief from Director Danny Moar for this photocall to publicise his forthcoming production at the Theatre Royal Bath. The aristocratic Audrey, who Penelope played alongside Peter Bowles for so many years, is the character with whom she is most commonly associated, and it was vital that we avoided the Audrey “look” for this play about a widow coping with the recent loss of her husband. Once Karen and I had done the light checks I retreated to makeup and Penny and I spent about twenty minutes talking through what we needed to achieve. The background was to be added in post-production by the design team, so it became a simple case of  ”less is more”. This was technically a very simple portrait, but the secret is to be able to engage fully with the actor to ensure the character shines through on the subsequent posters and pre-publicity material. We were shooting tethered which allowed the production team to view each shot in real time and within fifteen minutes Danny declared that I had achieved the very look he was after in under 40 frames. Two shots have been chosen and at the time of writing we do not know which will be the final. Once we do I will post the finished image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which looks like this…

 

The following article was written by Detroit-based photographer Rosh Sillars:

 

A couple of weeks ago we were commissioned by LightBrigade PR to undertake a shoot at the newly-opened “Hugo’s” restaurant in Egham, Surrey, for DM, website and general marketing use. Good restaurant interiors are always a challenge – particularly if you are  shooting while they’re  open and serving customers ! The mistake a lot of inexperienced photographers make when presented with a commercial interior is to put on their widest lens and attempt to capture everything in one or two angles. My technique is to look at the overall picture and then select elements that catch the eye, whether it’s the light on the bar stools or the Damien Hirst painting on the wall. It’s these details that tend to lodge in the memory, rather than sprawling vistas of a dining room in it’s entirety.

 

 

Some general shots are of course essential to give a sense of place, but again showing just enough to tempt you to come and see what else is on offer…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shooting up to this point had been available light only, but  my portraits of chef Antonio Romani and manager Leo Alexander were each lit by a single soft box. For Antonio I shot with flash, but for Leo I shot using just the built in modelling light , making it easier to balance foreground and background exposure levels.

 

 

Food was next on the menu, again lit by a single soft box and shot with an 80mm Macro Nikkor.  We selected scallops with bacon and a roasted vegetable platter with parma ham, as both dishes gave us terrific colours and textures to work with.

 

 

 

 

 

Final shot of the afternoon was the exterior. We’d left this until last as although Hugo’s is situated in a prime position, the surrounding buildings are fairly nondescript and there is lots of street furniture to contend with. This image was tweaked in post production to reduce the effect of the surroundings and focus attention on the front elevation itself.

 

 

 

 

August is traditionally “voicemail month” when the entire business world apparently goes on holiday at the same time. For us it’s a time to work on new ideas and strategies for the Autumn and to take advantage of the longer days to get out and about and shoot some library stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately the phone still remembers to ring with “real” work and variety was to be the order of the day. Here’s a small selection of what we got up to.

 

CRASH DIET  A call from Caters News Agency in Birmingham on Bank Holiday Sunday took me to Bognor Regis to photography Bryony Sutherland. After a car accident five years ago, when it took eight firemen three hours to cut her free, Bryony finally realised a “crash” diet was in order and went on to lose over seven stone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MONKEY BUSINESS  Portsmouth International Port was the venue for the arrival of two rescued monkeys from Slovenia. Once the car ferry had unloaded I was taken on board to meet the team from Monkey World in Dorset, who had driven virtually non-stop across Europe in order to limit the stress to these previously maltreated animals. On an empty car deck I had a very brief photo opportunity as the monkeys were gently transferred from the team’s Land Cruiser to their waiting quarantine van. The larger of the two repeatedly hid from sight in her box, but on three very brief occasions popped her face up to the window - and I had my shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHIP AHOY ! A week later I was back at the Port again to cover the departure of Fred Olsen Lines’ cruise ship ”Boudicca”. I joined Gareth and Julie from Navigate Design on the harbourmasters’ launch and spent a productive hour out on the water shooting her firstly alongside, then tracking her as she passed some of the City’s most prominent landmarks on her way out to sea. The weather was changeable to say the least, ranging from bright sunlight to dark cloud, but my past experience of  shooting both power and sail from (much smaller) moving boats ensured  an excellent selection of images were delivered to our client.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE KID’S ARE ALRIGHT  Three full day shoots were commissioned by ACS International Schools  to provide additional prospectus images to add to our shoots from earlier in the Summer. I’ve worked with ACS for nearly twenty years and now enjoy a huge amount of creative freedom in terms of the imagery I produce for them. I shoot exclusively with available light to minimise distraction in the classrooms and will frequently have to sit quietly on the floor of a kindergarten classroom until they forget I’m there !  For legal reasons I cannot show any images of the children here, but my work on all three UK campuses can be viewed on their website http://acs-schools.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GROUP THERAPY  From the simple to the complex, group photos can provide some interesting challenges and last week provided a rather unique situation involving groups of ever increasing sizes. The first was a straightforward  shot of 25 delegates at DeVere Venues’ Horsley training centre in Surrey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed down the M3 to Sutton Scotney near Winchester for the Association of Applied Biologists’ Conference. The weather was doubful with drizzle forecast and this time we had a group of 90 delegates to organise. A quick look-around the conference centre and hotel revealed no suitable indoor locations – and very few useable outdoor ones.  For a group this size height is nearly always the best solution, so we decided the best option was to shoot from a balcony above the bar patio. Once all the tables and chairs had been cleared we paced out the area and put guides down for our front and side lines. With Karen’s help we quickly mustered a somewhat bemused multi-national crowd into some semblance of order before I headed upstairs to the camera position to fine tune things. A couple of quick blasts of the dog whistle ensured I got everyone’s attention and within a couple of minutes we had our shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But why stop at 90 ?  Thursday 21st was the International Peace One Day event and as I was already booked on-site at the ACS Egham campus, they had asked me to shoot over 700 pupils and staff assembled to form the peace symbol. The staff had already mapped out the area with coloured markers so I headed up to the roof of the mansion house via a series of dusty lofts and ladders until I reached a small platform on top of the clock tower, about 80 feet above ground level. At 9.30 sharp all the students were brought out class by class and within 8 minutes, using two-way radios, some shouting and a lot of waving, we achieved a very acceptable image of a peace symbol !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In post-production we edited the RAW file and removed the  intruding roofline on the left of the shot, the coloured marker cones and added the title, leaving the finished shot below.

 

 

Commission: New brochure photography for an office block re-development in Southampton city centre.

As with all architectural photography this project was weather-dependent. Obtaining sunrise and sunset data was the first step, allowing us to work out the optimum lightfall at various times of the day. We combined this with Google Street View which allowed us to look at potential angles beforehand, ensuring that once on site our time was optimised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The first morning visit was forecast with cloud cover increasing by midday from the South. With this in mind we headed straight for the roof to shoot two panoramic views of the city skyline. Here’s the view looking West from what is Southampton’s tallest building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 … just remember not to look down !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we moved indoors to capture one of the office spaces. These are large (and currently empty ) but the aim here was to capture the space and the outlook. This was a challenge as there was a six stop difference between the interior and the exterior levels. To resolve this problem we ended up combining four different exposures and then blending the layers manually to achieve a result that looked as “real” as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We followed this shot up with the reception area with it’s flowing curves and sweeps, reminiscent of the old ocean liners . Shot from the door this gave us deep shadow areas by the lifts and on the first floor landing,  which we lit with two 200ws Lumedyne heads fitted with globe diffusers to balance with the ambient light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second visit was for daylight exteriors of the front and rear elevations and the new signage. These were essentially straightforward shots, just a case of donning a hi-vis and dodging the traffic to find some sympathetic angles to soften the rather rigid geometry of the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third and final visit called for some dramatic night shots to highlight the building’s lighting and give a busy, city centre feel.

We arrived on site a few minutes before sunset and headed up onto the Itchen Bridge for a long establishing shot. Regrettably the forecast “clear spell” had not materialised and although the sun had set behind the building, the flat, pinkish cloud lacked definition and failed to inspire, so we headed back to street level. About 25 minutes later the structure began to come alive as it’s blue wing lighting came on and the sky started to darken. It’s for this reason that photographers often refer to the period just after sunset as the “golden hour”, but you have to work quickly as it doesn’t last long. For one of the overall shots a low angle worked best as it removed some unecessary street furniture from the frame and increased the drama. A 10 second exposure to catch the light streaks from the numerous passing taxis added colour and buzz. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For the final image of the evening we got down and dirty, with the tripod spread flat in the gutter and working only a few feet from  speeding cars on one side and drunken Saturday-night revellers on the other. We thankfully survived both and headed home for a well earned nightcap !

Pre-publicity shoot at The Rose Theatre in Kingston for Stephen Unwins’ new production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Jane Asher.

Objective: To create an eye-catching image of Jane’s potrayal of the indomitable Lady Bracknell, that brings out the full depth of the character.

Equipment: 8′ x 6′ Lastolite Hi-Lite 4x BX500 Ri Elinchrom heads Soft boxes Nikon D700 NK Remote software from Breeze Systems

Jane is a very beautiful woman but she is now in her sixties, so soft frontal lighting was the order of the day. In view of the overhang of the hat I also chose to light from a much lower angle than I would normally, which was also more flattering to her skin tones. At this early stage Jane did not know the script,so we had to dispense with the usual run through of lines and concentrate on delivering the expression we wanted by reaction alone. After a few attempts at working full length I moved in closer, which greatly increased the eye contact between us. We tried various angles, but settled on Jane starting with her back to me, then turning suddenly to camera to introduce some spontaneous action. Shooting tethered allowed the marketing and styling team to watch the results on a screen behind me and it very soon became clear we were getting the results we wanted. We shot 130 frames which were wittled down to a selection of five before the final choice was made. The RAW file required very little work beyond a slight level and curve adjustment and a small amount of highlight recovery for the fine detail on the collar lace. The final image and the finished poster are shown below.

           

Back in Portsmouth at 8am last Friday for the official opening of the new £16.5m cruise terminal by business secretary Vince Cable. This time I was accompanied by my colleague Michel Focard, as the PR team from Navigate Design had decided to employ us both to get maximum coverage. We were blessed with great weather on the day and for added excitement a small number of well-behaved but very vocal anti-government protesters. Whilst Michel was assigned to cover all the arrivals and hospitality, I was left to shadow Vince and port manager Martin Putman for the duration of the visit. Thanks to the planning skills of the Navigate team the entire event went without a hitch, we got all the images we needed and the key shots were edited and wired out by lunchtime.  I love it when a plan comes together…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last Monday in March found us on site at the new Portsmouth Cruise Terminal, booked to shoot some glossy interiors and exteriors of the new building which was opening it’s doors on April 1st. Now the date alone should have been an omen – the weather was dull and grey and as we entered the terminal it was painfully apparent it was still very much a “work in progress”. As we were walked around by the port manager, our client started looking a little distressed and started asking if there was anything at all we could possibly make from the mess ! It was obvious overall shots of the interior were out of the question so we resorted to creating “teaser” shots to get the feel across.
Outside areas were a little easier, but in all cases I had to do several hours subtle retouching to supply a selection of viable, professional-quality images.
The client was delighted and our final pictures got good exposure in the both the regional and specialist press.

Below are some “befores” and “afters” to show what we had to do . .